Sketchbook Conversations -- a chat with Gabrielle Heckenbücker

I’m Gabrielle and for as long as I remember I am intrigued by color. I am a color-consultant by trade, having started my color-consultancy in 2002. As a colour consultant I love to explore colors and the way we experience them. While creating, I enjoy the beauty of imperfection and incompleteness. I love the process of things coming alive.

I feel the continuous need to create. Color is my passion, I just love to express and translate my feelings and thoughts into colors, the colors I see.

Nature and the little/big wonders of life are my daily inspiration. Behind my desk at the window I am constantly inspired.

20 years ago I started with my inspiration books as I called them back then. It’s only since the last 2 years that I started my daily painting. I love to work in sketchbooks, it’s like a visual diary to me. I use sketchbooks with thicker paper because I work with watercolors. Along my journey I found out that I always worked on several pieces at a time. When I paint, there are so many things I want to express at the same time and as it takes a while for the watercolor to dry, I now work on different pieces of paper which is more practical. The paint can dry while I work at another piece. I have piles lying on my desk and on the ground while working. Later I sort the pages and put them together with a ribbon.

My favorite mediums are watercolors and Ecoline which is fluid watercolor and comes in vibrant colors. I mostly use thick brushes or the Chinese calligraphy brushes. I sometimes add white ink for accents, that would be acrylic ink or my favorite uni-ball Signo broad ink pen. I’ve tried many different papers from cheap paper to more expensive and professional paper. My favorite is smooth paper and I love to see the colors flow and blend together. It’s like magic.

I would like to encourage you to paint or draw every day, if it’s only for 5 minutes, just start doodling on a piece of paper. It will become a rhythm and it will bring you new insights and inspiration along the way.

Comments

Another inspiring artist. I love how the loose pages are tied up with silk ribbon. There are infinite opportunities and methods to create and store art whether it be in a sketch book or loose pages. Thank you to Anne and all your guests for the ideas and inspiration and individuality you all bring.

Thanks for introducing me to Gabrielle and her beautiful art. I love the colors and fluidity and her approach to her sketchbook. I've often wished for a sketchbook that was filled with different papers so that depending on your mood you could try out different things. The loose sheets tied together is a great way to achieve this.

I hope you're getting back to your sketchbooks, Dana. I'm so glad you enjoyed this post. You're right, tying loose sheets with pretty ribbon is a great way to do that. Or maybe creating some sort of protective covering tied with ribbon...

Thank you for sharing! I have enjoyed following Gabreille for two years now! I always look forward to seeing what shes creating. The simplicity and vibrancy of her work is so sweet and inspirational. I get to see her work everyday because I have an original portrait of hers that is so special to me! This is a wonderful blog thank you 💕

My art, photographs and words represent many hours of creativity and hard work and they mean a lot to me. Please do not use them without my permission. If you're sharing on Pinterest or another, similar site, please give credit and link back to my site.